Ensuring optimal heating in care and nursing homes is not just a matter of comfort; it is a fundamental element in safeguarding the well-being and even the lives of elderly residents. The rapid loss of body heat in the elderly population can escalate into a critical issue if not addressed effectively.
Whilst finding ways to maintain infection control, monitoring the health, well-being and safety of their residents, care home operators need to resist the financial pressures that strain already tight budgets. Continue reading to discover the opportunity to save on costs whilst improving the well-being of residents with suitable heating options.
Care homes operate around the clock, resulting in constant heating requirements that contribute significantly to operational costs. An average care home with 50 residents already spends about £50,000 annually on gas and electricity. However, forecasts from energy brokers suggest that price increases could potentially double these costs.
To mitigate these financial challenges, there is a critical need for efficient heating solutions that not only address current expenditures but also provide long-term cost savings. Outdated heating systems exacerbate the issue by causing substantial heat loss, meaning additional energy is needed to compensate for inefficiencies, further escalating operational cost.
Commercial heat pumps have been a versatile, readily available, and low-carbon heat generation option that can be easily scaled to meet the national objectives in decarbonisation and the adoption of sustainable practices. Renowned for their high energy efficiency, heat pumps facilitate substantial long-term cost savings.
By transferring heat from lower to higher temperatures, such as extracting heat from the air, they require less energy to maintain a comfortable and reliable temperature within the building. This energy-efficient process results in reduced energy consumption and contributes to significant expense reductions.
With heat pumps, facilities can effectively transfer heat from lower temperature sources to higher ones, ensuring that the facility maintains a consistently comfortable and dependable temperature without excessive resource consumption. If your facility is planning to implement or already using a heat pump system, select radiators that are specifically compatible with heat pumps when upgrading the heating infrastructure.
While a basic, energy-efficient radiator may seem like a straightforward solution. Such radiators are widely available and have proven to be a cost-effective solution to improving heating efficiency. With a 5% reduction in heat output, they look like a worthwhile investment (on the surface). However, further considerations need to be taken into account — particularly in healthcare settings like nursing homes and care homes where vulnerable individuals reside.
Standard energy-efficient radiators don’t always offer the safety features that an LST radiator can provide, potentially putting residents at risk of injuries from scalding surface temperatures and angular designs. This is preventable by selecting Low Surface Temperature (LST) radiators designed specifically to mitigate risks associated with standard radiators, ensuring that residents are safeguarded from avoidable injuries.
LST Radiator Covers And Radiators for Hospitals
Low Surface Temperature (LST) radiators, equipped with advanced features like Kingspan foam insulation, offer a transformative approach to enhancing your care home heating efficiency. Coated on the interior with Kingspan foam, it ensures heat isn’t lost into the brickwork or walls behind the radiators.
With appropriate insulation on the cover, around 45% of heat is retained, according to BestHeating. Kingspan works by reflecting the heat that would have otherwise been lost back out into the room, preventing the loss of heat that would have occurred without it. The efficient radiators provide a stable and controlled heating environment, ensuring that residents experience consistent warmth without the discomfort of sudden temperature changes.
By preventing heat loss and ensuring heat retention, LST radiators like the DeepClean range contribute to a consistently warm environment, addressing the unique comfort requirements of elderly residents. Regular heating systems are susceptible to temperature fluctuations and instability, posing concerns for the stability of the care home environment.
Your care home heating efficiency is more than a matter of cost but a factor in ensuring the well-being and safety of more vulnerable residents. LST radiators with advanced features like Kingspan foam insulation reduce overall facility running costs, ensuring the thermal comfort of residents. They can stabilise the room temperature by preventing heat loss and offer a safer design alternative compared to regular heating systems.
Contour's DeepClean LST is heat pump compatible with a design that prevents heat loss and retains heat at the same time. It reduces energy costs and contributes to a lower carbon footprint in your facility. The range features a powder coating on both the inside and outside, incorporating BioCote® protection technology onto the product surface to inhibit the growth of microbes on surfaces, ensuring cleaner and safer heating.
The incorporation of BioCote® antimicrobial technologies has demonstrated an impressive reduction of microbes by up to 99.99% and represents a proactive step towards improving hygiene standards. Conventional radiator designs pose cleaning challenges, fostering environments with higher risks of microbial proliferation and the potential spread of infectious diseases.
DeepClean LST tackles these challenges head-on with a unique easy cleaning design, offering accessible surfaces for cleaning and minimising hidden spaces where dust and microbes thrive. To explore the optimal heating solution for your care home, get in touch today and schedule a consultation with one of our heating experts.
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Contour produces a range of innovative, safe surface temperature systems for healthcare, education, mental health, commercial and secure sectors, working in close partnership and collaborating with architects, M&E engineers, NHS Trusts, local authorities, design consultants and contractors to deliver outstanding safe heating solutions.
Contour is the exclusive partner of BioCote® anti-microbial technology for LST and anti-ligature radiators. BioCote® additives reduce bacteria by up to 99.9%. Contour combines an extensive range of colour-paints is with BioCote® for a durable, high-quality finish.
Contour’s heating solutions offer secure, single-person quick access to radiator guard interiors for regular deep cleaning and maintenance. Each year, Contour save the NHS millions of pounds in cleaning costs, therefore delivering.